FCRPS Hydro Operations Robert Petty Manager, Power and Operations Planning Bonneville Power Administration
Outline • Overview of Bonneville Power Administration • Federal Columbia River Power System (FCRPS) • Power Operations Objectives • Power Planning • Dworshak, Lower Snake River Dams and Lower Columbia Operations 2
Introduction to Bonneville Power Administration • Created to market and transmit generation from the federal hydropower system • BPA markets power from the federal hydropower plants and one nuclear plant but does not own the generation facilities • About 95% of the power BPA sells is carbon-free (varies slightly by year) • BPA owns and operates 15,000 miles of transmission lines = 75% of PNW transmission • Part of the Department of Energy • Sells Tier 1 system at cost, uses surplus energy marketing to reduce expenses 3
FCRPS (Federal Columbia River Power System) • Partnership between Army Corps of Engineers, Bureau of Reclamation, Bonneville Power Administration – Low cost, reliable power & effective stewardship – Generates power worth over $2 billion annually to the people of the Pacific Northwest – Through direct funding agreements, the program spends over $550 million annually on Capital Investment and O&M programs • The FCRPS includes: – 31 hydroelectric projects (21 COE/10 BOR) – Over 200 individual turbine-generating units • Capacity and Production: – Over 22,000 MW of nameplate generation – 8,700 aMW of energy production with average water – 89% of the FCRPS generating capacity is in the “Big 10” dispatchable projects • Hydropower Facts: – 55% of the region’s energy comes from hydro (depends on water year) 4
Columbia River Basin Projects 5
FCRPS Reservoir Categories • Two main categories of reservoirs include Storage and Run of River • Storage Projects include: Dworshak, Grand Coulee, Hungry Horse, Libby and Albani Falls • Storage projects have the ability to store water over long periods of time (months) • Run of River Projects include lower Columbia (McNary, The Dalles, John Day, Bonneville) Lower Snake River (Ice Harbor, Lower Granite, Lower Monumental, Little Goose). • Run of the river projects have pondage where water can be stored for hours allowing generation to be flexed. 6
Multi-Purpose Use of the FCRPS Recreation Flood Risk Navigation Management Fish and Irrigation Wildlife Hydropower Endangered Municipal and Species Industrial Protection Water Supply 7
Operational Objectives • Flood Control • Irrigation • Navigation • Recreation • Operations for fish • Transmission control area services such as reserves • Load obligations • Power generation • Specific operational constraints such as hydraulic capacity (Flow and Elevation) and machine capacity (MW) • Operational constraints can be found in project Water Control Manuals, Licensing Authorization Docs • To meet the objectives, water needs to be moved • Operational Objectives are typically coordinated and discussed throughout the region 8
Water Movement: Turbine vs Spill • Turbines – Produces MW • Need load/transmission to deliver the MWs • Have operational limitations • Spill – High survival route for migrating juvenile fish – Produces Total Dissolved Gas (TDG) • High TDG levels can result in gas bubble trauma in fish • TDG levels are monitored and adjustments are made for allowable spill – Can occur when there are instances of more generation than load – In 2019, flexible spill was introduced 9
Click to edit Master title style Renewable Integration 10
Streamflow Volatility - Annual Runoff of Columbia River Storage capacity in the Columbia Basin is about 30% of the total annual runoff More than a factor of 2 variability from driest to wettest year Drives operational objectives. 11
Uncertainty in water supply decreases as the year progresses 12
Power Marketing • BPA markets its power using different products as well as contract lengths • Long Term: 20-year contracts • Majority of BPA power is sold via long-term contracts • Some are simple (block, load-following) • Some are more complex (Slice) • Mid Term: within the current year • Term markets generally transact in monthly diurnal blocks • Heavy load hours or light load hours • Short-Term: within the month • Balance of month • Day-Ahead market – generally in HLH/LLH blocks, but California ISO market allows for hourly bids • Real Time market: within day • Hourly, but sub-hourly markets are evolving • Sales are treated as a load obligation while purchases are treated as a resource Note – BPA does not sell unit specific power and instead sells “system” power 13
Columbia River Treaty • Determines how Canadian Treaty Projects will operate under various water conditions • Discharge from Canadian Columbia-River Projects is inflow into US system • Mica, Arrow, Duncan add 15.5 Maf of Treaty Storage Space and 5 Maf of Non-Treaty Storage • Operation is determined 5 years in advance via the Assured Operating Plan (AOP) • Updated prior to the year via the Detailed Operating Plan (DOP) • Updated every two weeks during the year via the Treaty Storage Regulation (TSR) • Currently in Treaty negotiations with Canada 14
Biological Opinions • The three FCRPS Action Agencies are the Army Corps of Engineers, Bonneville Power Administration, and the Bureau of Reclamation. The FCRPS Biological Opinion guides the agencies in operating the FCRPS. • System will be operated to minimize the harm to and aid the recovery of listed salmon, steelhead, and freshwater species • Action Agencies develop: – Water Management Plan - Lays out how the system will be managed over the entire year for fish ops – Fish Operations Plan - Details how the FCRPS will operate for salmon during fish passage season (Apr-Aug) – Fish Passage Plan - Specific details on how fish passage ops will occur at the 8 major passage dams. Also provides operating criteria for flows and water quality issues from Chief Joseph and water temp control from Dworshak – Spill Operations Agreement – details how the different projects will spill throughout the spill season • In season management – Technical Management Team (TMT) weekly meetings 15
Bringing it all together – Operations • To operate the FCRPS, the before mentioned objectives need to work together • Planning is critical and covers the long-term (up to 20 years) down to the day ahead operations • Coordination is also critical and achieved through many venues dealing with many different time steps • Weather and streamflow forecast are a paramount as are load forecasts • All these activities have to be dynamic as factors change 16
FCRPS Projects – Dworshak • Dworshak • 3 Units = 450 MW total • Operated by Army Corps of Engineers • Largest storage project for the lower river • @ 80 feet of storage under normal operations • Operated off base points or fixed drafts most of the year • Operated for water temperature control during the summer 17
Click to edit Master title style FCRPS Projects – Lower Snake River • 25 units = 3270 MW total • Operated by Army Corps of Engineers • Multi-purpose dams • Critical in providing peak power most of the year • 1000 – 1100 average megawatts of electricity in an average year • P rovide up to 25% of BPA’s operating reserves that are used to meet unexpected changes in generation or electrical demand. BPA is required to hold these reserves to ensure reliability of the grid. • Four lower Snake River dams annual output of 1,000 average megawatts is approximately equal to Seattle City Light’s annual load • In next 20 years, these have relatively low projected capital investment compared to other federal hydro in PNW • Spill according to spill operations plan (flexed in 2019) • One of the “Big 10” projects 18
Click to edit Master title style Levelized Cost of Generation Lower Snake River Dam and Reservoir Projects* IHR – Ice Harbor Dam and Reservoir Project LGS – Little Goose Dam and Reservoir Project LMN – Lower Monumental Dam and Reservoir Project LWG – Lower Granite Dam and Reservoir Project *Note: the circle also captures LIB (Libby) and DWR (Dworkshak), which are not directly discussed Source: https://www.bpa.gov/Finance/FinancialPublicProcesses/IPR/2016IPRDocuments/2016-IPR-CIR-Hydro-Draft-Asset-Strategy.pdf 19
FCRPS Projects – Lower Columbia • McNary • 14 units = 1120 MW total • Operated by Army Corps of Engineers • Fair amount of pondage at @ 3 feet depending on time of year • Operations for waterfowl (nesting and hunting) • Spill according to spill operations plan (flexed in 2019) • One of the “Big 10” projects • John Day • 16 units @ 155 MW = 2480 MW total • Operated by Army Corps of Engineers • Again, fair amount of pondage @ 3.5 feet depending on time of year • Operations for irrigation and fish • Spill according to spill operations plan (flexed in 2019) • One of the “Big 10” projects 20
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